


Open Your Eyes (The Believe It Remix)

by laireshi



Category: Marvel 616
Genre: Angst, DreamVision, Getting Together, Happy Ending, M/M, Manipulation, OR IS IT, Post-Secret Empire, Remix, Virtual Reality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-26
Updated: 2018-02-26
Packaged: 2019-03-23 12:58:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13788246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laireshi/pseuds/laireshi
Summary: Tony knows that if something's too good to be true, then it probably isn't real. It's not possible he's happily married to Steve, is it?





	Open Your Eyes (The Believe It Remix)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cptxrogers](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cptxrogers/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Never Let You Go](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13197723) by [cptxrogers](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cptxrogers/pseuds/cptxrogers). 
  * In response to a prompt by [cptxrogers](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cptxrogers/pseuds/cptxrogers) in the [Cap_Ironman_Remix_Madness_2018](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Cap_Ironman_Remix_Madness_2018) collection. 



> Cptxrogers, thanks for writing the extra inspiring original fic!

Tony blinks slowly, turning towards Steve’s voice, leaning into his warmth. Steve chuckles and cards his hand through Tony’s hair, presses a kiss to Tony’s cheek. He’s smiling and well-rested, and Tony loves seeing him first thing after waking up. He loves even more cuddling with him, though, so he rests his head on Steve’s chest and lets his eyes fall closed again.

He’s feeling content and happy and he wants to stay in this moment, here with Steve forever. 

He drifts off, and his dreams raise to catch him.

_“Tell me, Director Stark!” Steve yells at him from behind prison bars, his face contorted and his eyes full of hatred. “Was it worth it?!”_

_Tony’s got an answer at the tip of his tongue—a lie, of course, but he’s done nothing but lying ever since the SHRA folder landed on his desk—but before he can answer, the scene changes._

_Steve’s outside, now, lying on the courthouse steps, blood pooling around him._

_“Is this what you wanted?” he asks, and Tony looks down in horror at the gun in his hands, the loud shot still echoing in his ears._

“No!”

Tony sits up, breathing heavily. He wants—he needs Steve—but he can’t reach for him, his eyes are pinned to his sides, he—

“Shh,” Steve says. “Calm down. You’re safe.”

The tension seeps out of him, and he goes pliant in Steve’s arms. 

It was just a nightmare, he thinks. Nothing else.

(But it wasn’t, _it wasn’t_ , it did happen, parts of it rang _so true_ to him.)

“I’d never hurt you,” he sobs out, and he knows he’s lying, he’s hurt Steve before and he probably will again, he doesn’t deserve him, he—

“I know,” Steve whispers in his ear. “I love you.”

Something’s wrong, and Tony wishes so desperately that he’s mistaken, that this happy world is right.

Steve never lets him go.

***

“I wonder,” a voice says, and Tony spins away from his work, calling the armour to him. The gauntlet flies to his hand almost before he finishes turning to see who’s there.

It’s Ty, standing in Tony’s workshop like he belongs there. His mouth twists up as if he’s amused. He doesn’t seem to be bothered by Tony aiming his repulsor at him.

“What do you want?” Tony snarls.

Ty shrugs, insouciant. “For you to be happy,” he says. “It’s when everyone’s at their most productive, is it not?”

Tony thinks of the designs he’s been polishing up, and he can’t quite remember what he needed them for. 

“Get out.”

“It’s not the way to speak to a friend, Tony,” Ty tuts. “And you’re self-sabotaging. Again. You might just hate yourself enough to change your ideal little world into a nightmare.”

Tony knows that. He destroys everything he touches. The Avengers, his friends, _Steve_. God, Steve. Tony killed him and betrayed him and lied to him and, perhaps worst of all, didn’t notice when Steve was changed into a monster. No wonder Steve went on his road trip, alone.

Tony frowns. No, that’s wrong. Steve’s just upstairs. Steve loves him. Tony makes him happy. There are matching rings on their fingers.

Tony touches his thumb to his ring finger, wanting to feel the warmth metal, a familiar comfort, but his finger is bare.

Ty’s watching him, frowning as if in worry—but Tony sees it for what it is. Ty’s not worrying about him, but about his plans.

“The quicker you finish here, the sooner you can go to Steve,” Ty says suddenly, and it’s so obvious Tony laughs in his face.

“Is that what gets to you?” he asks. “Is it that in my perfect world, I’m happy with _him_? Is that why you showed up here? I might’ve not realised what’s going on if not for your little visit, you know.”

It should hurt, and Tony’s sure that very soon, it will, but for now he’s just mad. He _knew_ it was too good to be true. He knew he didn’t deserve it. He knew Steve would never love him. He knew he wasn’t the kind of a man to get a happy ending.

Ty’s face contorts with rage. “I gave you what you wanted,” he says.

Tony summons his armour to him. It only takes as long as forming the thought, because now he knows where he is.

“I never wanted a lie,” he says. “I want Steve. Even if he never kisses me, even if he’s never my friend again, the real Steve is _so much better_ than anything your Dreamvision can offer.”

And the designs Tony’s been working on, the ones Ty wanted to steal—he now remembers in perfect clarity. Even here, his brain was fighting. Every equation is flawed. Ty won’t have Tony’s tech.

It’s not strictly necessary, but Tony fires the repulsor at Ty, watches his image disappear. 

He tells himself, _Wake—_

Steve’s standing where Ty was just moments ago.

“Tony?” he asks, sounding confused. “What’s wrong?”

Tony hesitates.

Steve walks over to him. “I’ve been waiting for you,” he says. 

“I’m—”

“No need to be sorry,” Steve says, smiling, reaching for Tony. “Just come to bed with me now.”

Tony closes his eyes. Here it is, the pain, as if someone ripped the heart out of his chest.

But this isn’t real. Never was.

“I’m sorry,” Tony says, and wills himself to wake up.

Steve’s disappointed face is the last thing he sees. 

***

Tony gasps, coming awake. He’s raising his hand to protect his head even before he opens his eyes, because he’s not sure _where_ he’ll wake, it might be Ty’s hideout for all he knows—

“Tony,” Steve says.

Tony’s heart plummets. He hasn’t managed to get out. He’s still trapped.

But there’s something to Steve’s voice that makes Tony look.

Tony’s in a hospital room. The air smells of disinfectant. Steve’s sitting in a chair that’s too small for him, dressed in plain, grey clothes. He’s got a few days stubble, and he looks exhausted.

It’s not the ideally happy, fake Steve from Tony’s manufactured dreams.

Is he real? Or did Ty’s machine get better?

“What are you doing here?” Tony asks, and Steve’s face falls.

“They called me,” Steve says. “You collapsed, and Hank said you were in a coma again—I came as soon as I could, but you wouldn’t wake up, and no one knew what was wrong. _Again_.”

Tony processes that. If it’s true, it means that Ty managed to trap him from distance.

“Why?” Tony asks quietly. “I haven’t exactly been a good friend to you lately.”

Steve stares at him. “You never gave up on me,” he says after a moment. “I wasn’t here when you were in a coma all these months. I couldn’t leave you now.”

 _Too good to be true_ , Tony thinks. He can’t tell.

But Steve can.

“Ty Stone is back,” Tony says, carefully. “He’s working on Dreamvision again.”

Steve sucks in a surprised breath. “I thought he needed to physically trap you, too.

“I guess he updated,” Tony mutters. “He wanted me to work on something.” And while most of Extremis is long gone from his system, his body isn’t really baseline human anymore. There are downsides to being able to communicate with his armour just through thinking. He’s got ten layers of security on himself, making sure no one will ever hack his own brain again, but . . .

“Did he hurt you?” Steve asks, something dark in his voice.

How should Tony know?

“I don’t know if this is real,” he says instead of answering. “I thought I knew—I thought I’d wake up. But you’re still here.”

Steve looks at him questioningly. “I was—I was there?”

“It was a good dream,” Tony says quietly, “if unreal.”

Steve bites on his lip. “I feel real now,” he says. “And—that’s not something I could’ve said a short time ago.”

Tony winces. This—this is not pretty, this is not happy, it’s just the ugly truth.

But he knows fully well he’s capable of dreaming up nightmares.

“I’ll tell you something real,” Steve says quietly. “You didn’t hear your surrounding when you were in the coma, right? Not now, before. When—when I was brainwashed.”

“No,” Tony confirms.

“Then you can’t know that,” Steve says.

Tony can see where he’s coming from—he shouldn’t be able to dream something that he’s not aware of—but he’s perfectly able to make stuff up. He says as much.

“I don’t think you could think of that,” Steve says. “When you fell into the coma—your body was on the Helicarier, for a while. I—that brainwashed version of me—he was called Director of SHIELD. He came to visit you.”

Tony’s eyes widen in surprise. He had no idea about that.

“He told you things,” Steve continues, quieter now. “Things about his plans. Things about me.”

Tony waits.

“He told you I had loved you.”

Tony feels as if he’s been hit.

 _Could_ his subconsciousness think of that? Of—of that fake, warped version of Steve _confessing_ to Tony’s own comatose body?

“Was it—” His voice gives up.

“Was it true?” Steve finishes for him. He chuckles. “Not exactly.”

Tony looks away. Of course it wasn’t. How could he even for a second hope?

“I _didn’t_ love you, Tony. Not in past tense. I love you. I have loved you for years.”

Tony can hear his own heartbeat in his ears, loud and fast, and he can’t process what Steve’s telling him now.

“I know you don’t feel like that,” Steve says. “I never meant for you to know. I didn’t want to make things weird between us. But—if the alternative was for you to doubt what’s real? This is real, Tony.”

Tony’s staring at him now. Steve’s keeping his eyes on Tony’s face, and Tony can see the determination in his face, can hear it in his voice. This is Steve as he is when completing the most difficult missions. “I,” Tony says and pauses. He wants to believe this is real. He’s not sure he should. Not just yet. “We should probably track Ty down. He’s planning something—we need to stop him.”

Steve looks away now. “Ah. Right. Of course.” He sounds dejected.

“And then,” Tony speaks over him. “Then you and I should talk.” He reaches out for Steve, annoyed when an IV cable stops him. He should call the doctors and get out of here. But that’ll be in a moment. First he needs to say the important part. “Like a date.”

Steve startles. “You don’t have to—”

“I _want to_ ,” Tony says. “When I was trapped in Dreamvision—do you know why it was so hard for me to get out? In my dreams—in my happiest, best dreams—we were together.”

Steve’s mouth forms a little _o_ of surprise before he smiles, happy like Tony hasn’t seen him in ages—at least in the real world.

If this is real. But he has to believe so. He couldn’t make this up.

Steve finally reaches back for Tony’s hand and clasps their fingers together. “A date, then,” he agrees, caressing the top of Tony’s hand. “Now I can’t believe this is real,” he adds in a tight voice.

“It is,” Tony reassures him.

He hopes he’s right.


End file.
